Arthur CotterellRecensioni

This little book packs a punch! I was so delighted to find that it contains many myths from First Nations peoples as well as other less represented cultures, like Weat African and Caribbean myths.

Ok as long as you’re not looking for West African myths or myths from the native peoples of North and South America.

9D8SLTB9

Weakly written, weakly conceived, unedited, not even spell-checked, bordering on incoherent at times. There’s a reason it’s out of print. I mistakenly assumed Oxford U Press had standards. Unfortunately there are very few brief, popular histories of East Asia as a whole, so I went to the bitter end. (It does improve a bit once it gets to WWII.) But if anyone can recommend an alternative, please do.

This is a decent one-volume overview of Eurasian mythology. (Eg classical, Northern European, Middle Eastern (eg Zoroastrian), Asian). Mythology often involves a lot of fucking and fighting, which can drive you towards asceticism, much like aversion to the radio. However, sometimes you have to forgive the radio, and like God used for good the twelve sons of Jacob, born of their mothers’ nervousness and jealous passions…. I don’t know, sometimes you just have to live with it. Of course, I’d hesitate to call that story “mythology”, but it certainly has many of the objectionable aspects of mythology. As entertaining as it can be to listen to the anti-Platonists, perforce and unconsciously ascetics, screed on and on because they’ve forgotten what they object to in mythology, because they’re so entitled, the Manichees, who rejected the Jewish revelations, must have objected to the personal layer of the Bible, and you don’t have to be like them.

…. I’m not the first; Emmet Fox, for example, talks about this—God as a magnified man, and God as a force like electricity being the two poles along a continuum of thought, with right thought, if you like, being in the middle, not quite mythology and not quite philosophy….

But not hating both, and paying none of your debts.

…. For remember that you were pagans once, lest you boast.

…. And I suppose that there are ascetic mythologies.

…. And anyway I guess that the relationship between enjoyment and restraint can be complicated, and either side can be The Bad Guy.

N.B. I read this whole book cover to cover before cataloging it, like I do for all my books. I do plan on reading a plain dictionary at some point too, like Malcolm X, although now I’m only up to Ar or As. I realize that this is a little freaky, but I think even a normal freak might enjoy reading this book cover to cover, especially since many of the entries describe beings I’ve never heard of before, so I’d have never looked them up. Anyway, this book is a great first steps in mythology kind of thing.

Vepra përshkruan, sipas rendit alfabetik, mbi 1250 karaktere të miteve dhe legjendave që u përkasin tetëmbëdhjetë traditave të ndryshme kulturore nga e gjithë bota, nga Grekët dhe Romakët te Skandinavët, Majat dhe popujt e Polinezisë, duke synuar të identifikojnë arsyet historike , diversiteti shoqëror dhe gjeografik i këtyre traditave dhe për të identifikuar temat e mëdha me interes universal: nga dashuria te pjelloria, nga lufta në vdekje, nga magjia në pushtet.
Sharmi dhe forca ndjellëse e miteve dhe legjendave të së kaluarës.

A snappy, well written little history that manages to squeeze the past three thousand years of Chinese history into a little over three hundred pages. The author has a rather quaint style of writing that never becomes so textbook-esque that you want to stop reading, but without sounding like he's saying "History can be fun, kids!" and smiling creepily either.

A snappy, well written little history that manages to squeeze the past three thousand years of Chinese history into a little over three hundred pages. The author has a rather quaint style of writing that never becomes so textbook-esque that you want to stop reading, but without sounding like he's saying "History can be fun, kids!" and smiling creepily either.

931

291.1

Myths from around the world, arranged by country. Gave to the church library.

An authoritative illustrated A-Z of mythical figures from three ancient cultures: Classical, Celtic and Norse.

This was on a theme shelf at my local library (for No-Shave November, because beards) and it's been something I've been wanting to do more research on for some time (Norse Mythology, not No-Shave).

A great overview of Norse Mythology listed alphabetically like any good encyclopedia with focus pages on Norse Heroes, the Valkyries, Rings of Power, Tragic Lovers, and of course Ragnarok. Many of the stories shared in each character section repeat just because the character mentioned was only in one myth and the story is covered in the entries for others involved in the story (the entry for Fafnir covers the same incidence covered in the entry for Siegfried, for example). Still a well researched collection that works perfectly as a jumping off point for anyone interested in the old Norse tales.

Got this on a whim on a half off table outside a long since gone bookstore. I love this little book.
It might be a little difficult to get right to the info you want because of the way they have it set up, but aside from that, I love it

LOS ORIGENES DE LA CIVILIZACIÓN EUROPEA

El libro de Cotterell que hemos escogido, editado en 1986, a pesar de su antigüedad no ha perdido demasiada vigencia a excepción de lo que refiere al neolítico griego que ha sido revisado plenamente en los años noventa, y sigue siendo un referente que todo aquel que trate de abordar la cuestión del origen de la civilización europea, y por consiguiente occidental, el por qué de nuestro actual modo de vida, entre otros temas tiene que manejar con mucha frecuencia.

Su primer capítulo, el que se refiere a la transición al neolítico es el más controvertido y, como afirman muchos expertos en la cuestión, posiblemente ha quedado un poco obsoleto, pues sus teorías sobre el neolítico en la zona de la Hélade fueron revisadas en la década de los noventa por varios teóricos. Cotterell nos intenta explicar que la verdadera colonización del territorio griego se dio en la etapa neolítica. Los hombres llegados de Oriente, primero por tierra y por mar poco después, se instalaron en las fértiles planicies de Tesalia y Beocia y, desde allí, lentamente, fueron colonizando las restantes áreas geográficas del norte y centro de Grecia y la península del Peloponeso. En cada una de estas zonas se desarrollaron culturas neolíticas de gran personalidad, formando la base de la civilización griega. En la segunda parte del libro nos encontramos con la edad de bronce, y , más en concreto con innovaciones y descripciones maravillosas de la idílica y pacifista civilización minoica. La sociedad minoica de la Edad de Bronce, nos explica el autor, no estaba dividida, aunque sí jerarquizada. Los diferentes estratos sociales vivieron en perfecta armonía, organizando una economía desde los grandes palacios, verdaderos centros administrativos. La base del poder de estos palacios estaba en su capacidad de atesorar los excedentes de producción agrícola, organizar la actividad comercial y la defensa a través de la flota y producir objetos artesanales en sus talleres. Además, se constituyeron en los centros religiosos, controlando las actividades ceremoniales del culto.

En definitiva, el palacio es una mezcla del taller con el trono, del almacén con el santuario y de la política con la ceremonia religiosa. El perfecto funcionamiento de este esquema social y económico se deduce del panorama artístico y arqueológico, en un reflejo carente de hechos guerreros o de estructuras de dominio por medio de la violencia.Los niveles de destrucción de los palacios corresponden a movimientos sísmicos, sin que haya ninguna huella de conflictos interiores de cualquier tipo. La ausencia de fortificaciones delata la efectividad de la flota, verdadera muralla de madera que protege la isla. En esta sociedad se ha querido ver el origen del carácter del humanismo e individualismo, aportación griega al espíritu occidental, ya que la cultura minoica pervivió en un buen número de aspectos en el alma griega, a través incluso de las siguientes etapas de barbarie y destrucción, aunque la mayor parte de esta pervivencia consistió en los relatos mitológicos de la Grecia Clásica. En ellos se ve la reacción de sorpresa y admiración que les merece una época mítica, la Edad de Oro, con sus leyendas del rapto de Europa, del justo y sabio Minos, la pasión contra natura de Pasifae, la destreza e ingenio de Dédalo, de Minotauro y Teseo, del hilo de Ariadna...

Pero también en este segundo episodio del libro se nos relatan las características de la beligerante y noble casta micénica, donde se nos describen tanto el palacio de Cnosos como la propia ciudad de, Micenas con gran minucia. La última etapa de la Edad del Bronce en el Egeo es la que se conoce como época micénica, según nos explica Cotterell, la misma que aparece como tema de los poemas homéricos. La época de los palacios heroicos y, especialmente, el de Agamenón en Micenas constituía el primer período de la historia griega para los mismos antiguos, aunque ya éstos se planteaban sus dudas sobre el carácter histórico o mítico y señalaban una diferencia importante entre el tiempo de los hombres y el tiempo de los héroes.

En la tercera parte tenemos la llegada de un nuevo metal: el hierro. Con él llega la caída de la civilización micénica, bien sea por sus luchas internas, por algún tipo de cataclismo, por los pueblos del mar o los dorios, o por la combinación de varios de estos factores, llegamos a la época oscura griega caracterizada por la escasez de restos arqueológicos. Varios son los periodos de la Historia Universal que reciben el nombre de Edad Oscura, término que, por una parte, se ha aplicado normalmente con una connotación negativa para referirse a épocas carentes de brillantez. Por otra parte, sin embargo, la denominación alude a la oscuridad producida por la carencia de fuentes. En este sentido, resulta aceptable para referirse al período comprendido entre los siglos XII y VIII a.C. en Grecia. Entre la desaparición del brillante mundo de los palacios micénicos y el renacimiento producido cuatro siglos más tarde, cuya principal manifestación fue la aparición de la escritura y, seguramente, la redacción escrita de los poemas homéricos.

La cuarta y la quinta parte del libro nos llevan a la Grecia Arcaica, tratando temas tan característicos como el nacimiento de la πολυς, tras la ruralización motivada por la época oscura; la expansión del mundo griego en forma de colonias, como la magna Grecia o la defensa de occidente que hace referencia a las guerras que se mantuvieron contra los persas por parte de los pueblos griegos. Cotterell nos detalla que la expansión del Imperio Persa hacia la zona de Lidia y Caria va a provocar una tensión creciente en la zona del Asia Menor, donde las ciudades griegas se van a sentir amenazadas. Esta situación que menciona nuestro autor estallará en los años iniciales del siglo V a.C. con la rebelión de las ciudades jonias de Naxos y Mileto. Grecia presenta una posición dual, dividida en dos grandes centros de poder: Atenas y Esparta. Atenas cuenta con un buen número de aliados como Eubea, Quios, Lesbos, Naxos o Rodas, mientras que Esparta tiene el apoyo de la mayor parte de las ciudades del Peloponeso, Tesalia, Beocia, Fócide y Macedonia.

La destrucción de Mileto por parte de los persas será el inicio de una maniobra persa para conquistar Grecia. Estas guerras médicas, de las que tanto nos reveló Cotterrell, quizá sean el punto culminante, el colofón del libro, pues el autor resalta con mucho énfasis el hecho de que si el signo de la guerra, representada, en forma de lapidas y centauros, metafóricamente en el Partenón, hubiese cambiado, con toda probabilidad hoy en día nuestra forma de vida, nuestros gustos, y, en definitiva, nuestra civilización y nuestra sociedad serían muy diferentes.Para concluir solo cabe señalar que Cotterel nos proporciona una visión desde la arqueología de lo que fue la cuna de nuestra actual civilización tomando como guía la historia de la antigua Grecia, a la que tanto le debemos. Nos aporta una explicación de sus momentos iniciales con lo que obtenemos quizá lo que podríamos llamar los orígenes de nuestros orígenes, detallándonos, de este modo, el comienzo, la semilla de nuestra civilización, haciendo un compendio de los datos históricos y de los hallazgos arqueológicos de la antigua Grecia, de la que nos seguimos nutriendo para poder explicarnos.

Not quite what I was looking for. I’m trying to follow up on various earlier discussions about the use of the horse in antiquity, so I figured a book titled Chariot would be a sure thing. Unfortunately, this is more of a history of the times and places where chariots were in use, rather than a history of chariot warfare. Author Arthur Cotterell goes on wide digressions, including the chariot in the Mahabharata, Byzantine chariot racing, the chariot in the Roman triumph, and so on.


Cotterell contends that the chariot as a war machine was always used as a mobile archery platform. This is fairly sure for Egyptian and Indian chariots, not quite as plausible for Hittite and Chinese chariots, and pretty dubious for Mycenaean chariots. No Mycenaean chariot examples exist; everything is based on contemporary depictions and literature. All know depictions show Mycenaean chariots with the axle under the center of the car, unlike Egyptian chariots with the axle far to the rear. This would have made the Mycenaean chariot unstable in high speed maneuvers – but suitable for slow turns in tight spaces. The Iliad consistently describes the chariot as a battle taxi – hauling the spear-equipped warrior up to the front, then turned around in readiness to extract him in case of retreat. Cotterell’s arguments for Mycenaean archery chariots are based on the claim that this is what everybody else in the Bronze Age was using theirs for, and also on the slaughter of the suitors at the end of the Odyssey. The idea was Odysseus’ use of the bow was a holdover from an earlier version of the epic, and Homer had to keep it in after warfare styles had changed. Don’t think I buy that.


Nevertheless, there’s a lot of interesting stuff about Indian and Chinese warfare; these are periods I’m not at all familiar with and I am now inspired to do further reading. Fortunately, one of the major strongpoints of Chariot is the outstanding bibliography; not only is there a book list, but references are discussed at length with suggestions for which would be most suitable for an overview and which have details. Sort of kind of recommended.

I bought this book to learn more about China's ancient capitals. What I discovered, however, is an absolutely delightful book on the history of China (and its capital cities) as chronicled through the lives of its most important emperors. The first chaper on "The Cosmology of the Chinese Capital" is a fascinating overview of the Chinese world view that links astronomy, religion and geography with Chinese, Indian, Khmer and other Asian orientations--one of the best introductions to the subject I've read. The author then chapter by chapter, follows the lives of the various emperors who founded, moved or destroyed cities and courts and populations in their search for the ideal capital city, safety, riches, military advantage, or divine approval. This history comes alive with anecdotes, stories and details that are beautifully woven together and makes the text a real page-turner. Together with Ann Paludan's excellent book "Chronicles of the Chinese Emperors", which because of its rich illustrations and pictures is the perfect companion to Cotterell's narrative, you have two of the best general overviews of Chinese history to be found. Wonderful book, and one I'll buy and give to many friends to introduce them to the captivating subject of classical Chinese history.

There are two great inventions in the early history of humanity: writing and wheels. While writing helped transmit information from place to place faster, the wheel actually got people from place to place faster. Attach newly domesticated horses to the front of a basket with wheel and you have yourself a chariot. Early chariots were invented in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE and they are seen in mosaic reliefs dated to five hundred years after that. They served as parade vehicles, battle taxis for archers, and used in races for public spectacle. For a while, they were the greatest weapons used in large-scale warfare, but strategists and inventors found ways around them. Forcing the battle onto uneven terrain or immobilizing the horses left the chariots unable to effectively take the field. Arthur’s Cotterell’s Chariot is a spectacular look into the history of, uses for, and stories about the first great war machine.

Cotterell’s history moves around the globe in search of new and inventive source material about chariots. He follows its use from Mesopotamia to Egypt to Europe proper, and then to India and China. While there are great stories and illustrations of chariots, there is no full definitive timeline included. Nor is there a good bibliography, and he even goes so far as to use Homer’s works and the Bible as source material. I would have liked a slightly better scholarly approach to the subject, but the history was interesting nonetheless. Any history buff or military history enthusiast should give this one a look-see.

Cotterill gives a summarised history of Chinese Dynasties by describing each dynasty, its capital, and the architectural, artistic, legal and other achievements of the prominent rulers of that dynasty. Its a simple method and very effective. There are many small treasures to be enjoyed here. I particularly liked the image of Kublai Khan camped on the plains waiting for his capital to be built. I was also surprised to learn for the first time of the large number of dynasties that are not Han Chinese but were Turkish, Hunnish, Mongol etc. Fascinating stuff

Comprehensive reference guide to world mythology with sections on classical world, norse lands, south and central asia, egypt and west asia, celtic world, east asia.

Entries are made in A-Z format within each main section with lots of full colour illustrations and photos.

Beautiful stories coupled with stunning illustrations of all styles. This is a "must-have" for anyone interested in mythology.

Titres non significatifs des chapitres, très illustré, texte hiérarchisé autour de l'iconogr.

This is a particularly good title in a generally excellent series. My husband found it useful to provide background information for a course in Chinese calligraphy he was teaching (to adults).

The New York Times calls this series "a mini museum between the covers of a book." This particular title covers the history of the Chinese Empire and its culture.

The art is amazing. I love Pre-Raphaelite and related art and this book has plenty.